Research Methods and Ethics Flashcards
7 cards from real Psychology Degree practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Research Methods and Ethics flashcards as text
Which of the following is the best example of a confounding variable?
Answer: A variable that varies systematically with the IV and also affects the DV
A confound co-varies with the independent variable and independently influences the dependent variable, threatening internal validity.
Content validity of a test is best evaluated by:
Answer: Having subject matter experts judge whether items represent the domain
Content validity is established through expert review to ensure the test items adequately sample the relevant content domain.
What does it mean if a study has low statistical power?
Answer: It has a high probability of failing to detect a true effect
Low power means a high probability of a Type II error — failing to reject a false null hypothesis when a true effect exists.
An IRB review is most concerned with which three core ethical principles from the Belmont Report?
Answer: Respect for persons, beneficence, and justice
The Belmont Report establishes respect for persons (autonomy/consent), beneficence (maximize benefit/minimize harm), and justice (fair distribution) as foundational principles.
A researcher studying suicidal ideation in teenagers omits the topic from the informed consent form to avoid distressing participants before the study. This is:
Answer: A violation of informed consent requirements
Participants must be told the general nature of a study; omitting a central sensitive topic violates their right to make an informed decision about participation.
What is the defining feature of a quasi-experimental design?
Answer: It lacks random assignment to conditions
Quasi-experiments manipulate an independent variable but without random assignment, limiting causal conclusions compared to true experiments.
Which statistic is used to estimate the proportion of variance in the dependent variable explained by the independent variable?
Answer: Eta-squared (η²)
Eta-squared (η²) is a variance-accounted-for effect size statistic commonly reported with ANOVA results.